News agencies have reported heavy fighting in rebel-held
Kalemie on lake Tanganyika. AFP said 100 DRC government
soldiers fleeing the Kalemie clashes had arrived in
Kigoma, Tanzania. Meanwhile, UN sources said 398 Congolese
refugees arrived yesterday in Kigoma, most from the
Kalemie area. Yesterday's refugee influx brought the
total number of new Congolese arrivals in Kigoma to
5,333 since the start of the DRC rebellion in August.

Rebels claim Sudan supporting Kabila at Kindu

Rebel leaders claimed yesterday (Tuesday) that Sudan
had sent 2,000 of its soldiers to Kindu, Maniema province,
to help DRC President Laurent-Desire Kabila and his
allies, news agencies reported. Reports since 3 September
have alleged Sudanese involvement in the conflict.
The chief of staff of the Forces armees congolais (FAC)
has "categorically denied" the allegation,
AFP reported today. Sudanese Foreign Minister Mustafa
Osman Ismail told the news agency that his country's
support for Kabila was "political". Kindu
is the government's forward military headquarters in
the east.

Ugandan involvement in DRC rebellion refuted

President Yoweri Museveni today reconfirmed the presence
of Ugandan troops within DRC territory, but said they
were not fighting. "We are just watching"
to preserve Ugandan security, he told parliamentarians.
In his speech, reported by AP, he criticized foreign
involvement in the DRC, calling it "ideologically
repugnant". He added "Rwanda installed Kabila
in power. Now it's Angola ... It's amazing now to
hear him say that the Rwandans are aggressors."

Ugandan senior presidential advisor John Nagenda challenged
DRC authorities who allege active Ugandan involvement
in the DRC rebellion to capture Ugandan troops and
show them publicly. Nagenda told IRIN that Uganda was
"absolutely not" fighting alongside the rebels.
He acknowledged, however, that Uganda was "extremely
sympathetic" to Rwandan security concerns. He
said that there was "worry" and "disappointment"
in Uganda with Kabila's alleged association with the
Interahamwe and other forces behind the 1994 Rwandan
genocide.

Kabila appoints former Mobutu generals to lead offensive

Kabila has appointed four generals who served under
former president Mobutu Sese Seko to command forces
in the southeast, state media reported. Marcelin Lukama
Musikami was appointed chief of staff for the southeast
sector and Mulimbi Mabilo was made commander of operations,
while Ngwala Panzu and Bekazwa Bakundulo were appointed
deputy commanders, the Congolese Press Agency reported
yesterday.

Cholera problem rising in Shabunda

Cholera is becoming a serious problem in South Kivu,
humanitarian sources report. There has been a substantial
increase in the number of cholera cases in Shabunda
and other areas of the province, with a sharp rise
in mortality rates reported. Efforts to combat the
epidemic have been hampered by a shortage of cholera
drugs and restricted access to affected areas.

Future of war-disrupted polio eradication campaign discussed

Ministry of health officials, with UN and other partners
are examining options for salvaging DRC's planned national
polio immunization campaign, put off at the start of
the rebellion. The campaign, which had been scheduled
to start on 20 August, aimed to vaccinate about 10
million children under five years of age against polio,
as part of global efforts to eradicate the disease.
To help prevent millions of vaccine doses from spoiling
during the recent three-week power outage in Kinshasa,
UNICEF provided health authorities with fuel to run
generators at the central refrigerated vaccine storage
room in the capital.

SUDAN: Khartoum claims Ugandan troops involved in offensive

The Sudanese army claimed today (Wednesday) that 50
rebel Sudanese fighters and Ugandan army troops had
been killed in "fierce battles" in Equatoria.
The statement on state radio said that attacks "by
Ugandan enemy troops backed by pockets of the rebel
Sudan People's Liberation Army (SPLA) forces"
took place at Liria, Torit and al-Gabalein. The three
locations are to the south and southeast of Juba. A
senior advisor to Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni,
John Nagenda, denied the allegations to IRIN, saying
"we don't fight on foreign soil." Uganda,
Nagenda said, had "sympathies for what the SPLA
stands for," but said the Sudanese would have
to "do it themselves".

The Khartoum army statement confirms the outbreak of
fighting reported in IRIN Update 502 and the breakdown
of a unilateral ceasefire declared by Khartoum on 3
August in all of southern Sudan. The SPLA is observing
a ceasefire in Bahr al-Ghazal province only. Map: http://www.expediamaps.com/results.asp?Place=Torit

Humanitarian concern about Western Upper Nile

WFP is concerned at the humanitarian situation of people
in Western Upper Nile. Fighting between different pro-Khartoum
southern factions in the Bentiu area has virtually
cut off the area from humanitarian access. A security
and needs assessment was called off last week due to
insecurity and flooding. Only a third of a planned
1,200 mt of food deliveries for August was completed.
WFP told IRIN that clashes continue in Mankien, while
a Khartoum newspaper this week claimed as many as 400
people may have been killed in fighting between the
Paulino Mateb and a faction allied to Riek Machar.
An MSF spokeswoman agreed that the Upper Nile area
was an area of "huge" concern.

RWANDA: Displaced camps a "disaster waiting to
happen"

Numbers of displaced people in northwestern Rwanda are
on the rise. At the end of August, an OCHA report estimated
150,000 people in Gisenyi and 95,000 in Ruhengeri were
displaced. Today, an aid official told IRIN the official
figures for displaced people in Ruhengeri alone had
risen to 185,000. The director of CONCERN in Rwanda,
Anne O'Mahony, told IRIN that the displaced people
were generally sheltering in commune buildings, guarded
by the army. The situation of the displaced people
is "a disaster waiting to happen", said O'Mahony.
Three sites, Kinigi, Gatonde and Cyeru each hold more
than 25,000 people, while 14-15 smaller sites account
for the rest. Many of the sites lack social services,
shelter and clean water. As the rainy season approaches,
the outlook is "fairly bleak" and needs for
plastic sheeting and other supplies are becoming urgent.
UN food aid deliveries to Ruhengeri have been suspended
for the last ten days, after a convoy hit a landmine
last weekend, killing one passenger.

The displacement follows a "hearts and minds campaign"
to bring civilians out of the forests and areas under
rebel control and back to the government-held side
in the conflict zone, aid workers say. However, the
recent increase in numbers comes as a result of increased
insecurity. "Hutu and Tutsi alike feel threatened
up there", said O'Mahony.

Three soldiers face death sentence

A Rwandan army officer and his two bodyguards have been
sentenced to death for the murder of two women. The
two sisters were killed on August 23 when they tried
to reclaim a house occupied by the soldiers which belonged
to their brother. The three soldiers have 30 days in
which to appeal, Radio Rwanda reported.

BURUNDI: Thousands arrive from DRC

Over 5,500 people have arrived in Burundi's northwestern
Cibitoke region, fleeing fighting in the DRC, OCHA
Burundi reports. UNHCR figures indicate that 5,586
people had arrived by 11 September, of whom 1,729 were
Burundians returning home. Most of the new arrivals
were staying in temporary sites, while UNHCR provides
return packages to the Burundians, OCHA reports.

Nairobi, 16 August 1998, 15:55 GMT

[ENDS]

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